The Mating Intent-mobi (18 page)

Gabriel’s hands stroked a line down her torso. He slid the soap over her belly, then dipped a finger into her navel. Then he went behind her and dropped to his knees. Gabriel squeezed her bottom and stared up at her.

“Man, I love your sweet little ass. I’ve dreamed about this. Bend over, pixie.”

When she did, he spread her cheeks wide and stroked the soap between them. Gabriel washed her as her passage grew ready for him. Then she felt the delicious roughness of his tongue delve between her ass cheeks.

A nearly unbearable ache filled her lower belly as he kissed and licked, all the while stroking her clit. Water streamed down her body, mingling with her natural moisture. Sienna splayed her hands against the tile as he stood and grasped her hips.

“I’m going to make love to you,” he rasped. “Send you over the edge until you can’t take it anymore. And then I’m going to start all over.”

She felt the insistent push of his cock nudge at her slick folds, and then push slightly inside her. He entered her slowly, stretching and penetrating her deeply, and deeper still. Sienna made a little pleading cry as he sank inside her to the hilt and remained still, his fingers gripping her hips.

“Gabriel, please hurry,” she whispered.

“Not until I say what I must.”

Gabriel bent over her, his body firmly lodged inside hers, the crisp hair on his hair against her back. He flung aside her wet hair as the water pattered upon them, and kissed her nape.

“Sienna, you think no one cares about you. I care. I care enough to keep you here for a lifetime.” His voice dropped to a husky whisper. “All I can think about is getting inside you, keeping you in my bed for good.”

“I just want this moment, with you, to last forever. I wish it could.”

Slowly he withdrew, and then thrust back inside. She reached back, felt his hand, felt their fingers entwine and then release. With a groan, he began to surge heavily into her, teasing her clit with his finger. Her breasts swayed as his flesh slapped against hers, nearly suffocating her with pleasure. Gabriel murmured praises of her body, how sweet and tight she felt, how beautiful she was. Each stroke raised her higher until the pressure built in her loins.

“Now,” he cried out as she squeezed him tight, “Come with me!”

Crying out, she surged and soared upwards as the orgasm crested over her, feeling him pump deep inside her.

In sated exhaustion, she sagged against the wall as he slowly withdrew. Sienna turned around to see the husky glint of satisfaction in his gaze. Then Gabriel reached past her, turned the knob to shut off the shower.

She caressed his smooth cheek. He had the grace and strength of his beast, but made love with such tenderness, her heart ached.

If only they could remain like this forever. But she would take the night, and all it had to offer.

They returned to the glen. Sounds of lovemaking surrounded them, blending with the chirping of tree frogs. Male grunts and high, excited female cries sang through the air. Gabriel steered her toward the blanket and dropped down, pulling her atop him.

For several moments they rested on the blanket. And then nearby, a kissing couple dropped to the ground nearby, illuminated by the light of the full moon. Two more males joined them. Sienna raised her head and saw the two males suckling on the woman’s breasts as her partner spread her legs wide. Sienna caught a glimpse of the shifter’s thick, gleaming cock as he positioned it at the woman’s sex. Then he drove deep inside her and she moaned.

Sienna’s own sex pulsed at the sight. Gabriel cupped the back of her head and kissed her. Straddling him, she kissed him back, then placed his hands on her breasts. He caressed and stroked and then in a swift move, tumbled her back to the blanket and flipped her onto her stomach.

“Get on your hands and knees. I’m going to take you as a panther takes his mate.”

As he kissed his way down her backside, delivering tiny stinging nips he soothed with his tongue, Sienna lost herself. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t form a single coherent thought. The feel of his strong body sliding over her backside, his cock prodding at her swollen, soaked folds, tore away all reason.

Elven, she was Elven. Was she? Did it matter?

A soft growl rumbled deep in his throat as he seized her hips. Using her arousal as lubricant, he slipped his penis between her folds in long, teasing strokes. Long blonde hair curtaining her face, she threw back her head and hissed. “Stop teasing me. Do it!”

“As you wish,” he murmured and pushed inside her.

The exquisite feel of him taking her this way, feeling vulnerable and out of control, rushed through her like liquid heat. Her body began to glow pure white. Gabriel pressed his mouth to the nape of her neck. “You and me, pixie. We do this, we create good magick.”

“I missed you.” She gasped as he withdrew and then slid back inside in a teasing stroke.

“It doesn’t matter to me that you’re an Elf and I’m a shifter. Soon as I saw you, heard your voice, scented your sweetness, I knew I had to have you as my mate.”

“That was your intent all along,” she realized aloud.

“It was my dream. All these years, you’ve haunted my thoughts. You slid into my spirit when we made love and nestled into my heart with your little kitten claws and never let go.”

“Kitten claws?” she asked, amused, and then gasped as he pounded hard into her. Gabriel twisted his hips, the move making her want to claw at him. Beg him to do it again. She felt his barb touch her G-spot and threw her head back.

“Like that, pixie? Want more?” His gaze darkened as he pulled out, drove deep inside, his barb sliding against her vaginal walls, creating erotic pleasure. Gods she was so turned on, her body tight as her bowstring. She needed this, wanted to come so badly she pumped her ass backward to meet his urgent thrusts.

“Shut up and fuck me,” she demanded.

Gabriel squeezed her hips and pulled away. He gave her ass a hard slap, chuckling as she squealed from the pleasure-pain.

“Naughty pixie. No patience. I’ll give you what you need.” Gabriel kissed the curve of her spine.  And then he gave her exactly what she needed, driving harder and harder until her screams and his hoarse shouts filled the night air. Just as he promised, their cries of pleasure soaring to the heavens, honoring the goddess as the moon smiled down upon them. When they climaxed together, Gabriel snarled and bit the back of her neck and she came again.

After, they rested and dozed, and woke up to make love twice more before falling asleep beneath the moon’s silvery caress.

When she woke again, the moon was fading in the sky and dawn broke over the leaden sky. Gooseflesh sprang out on her arms. Sienna rubbed her hands. Something was wrong. The air felt heavy and oppressive, like a thunderstorm threatened, but with a metallic taste of death.

She shook Gabriel. “Wake up.”

Yawning, he sat up, rubbing his eyes. He grinned, but his grin suddenly dropped. Suddenly he sprang to his feet and reached for his jeans.

“Get dressed. Hurry.”

Not stopping to question him, she dressed in the skirt and blouse. Bare-chested and bare-foot, Gabriel raced through the glen on the pathway leading to the Everglades.

Her heart banged hard in her chest as the air grew thicker and the stench clogged her nostrils. Oh please, she said silently. Please let me be wrong.

But she knew this smell, knew her instincts were correct.

A warm breeze blew from the south as they reached the swamp’s edge. Gabriel ground to a halt, staring at the moonlit water. Despair etched his expression.

A dead heron lay half in the water, its neck upon the shore. Two moor hens bobbed in the sullen waters.

They were dead.

A lump clogged her throat as she dropped to her knees, staring at the blackened waters, the oily slickness polluting the once-pristine swamp. Far as her eye could see.

The toxic dark was now killing wildlife, not just Others.

“It’s spread. All my magick couldn’t ward the Everglades against the toxic dark or against it shifting into something more deadly.” Gabriel turned to her, torment twisting his mouth. “It’s spreading and nothing will stop it, until every single living creature in the swamp is gone.”

Rose and lavender streaked the sky as the sun rose, but Sienna found no joy in the beauty of the sunrise. Sunlight revealed only that the destruction was far worse than she’d imagined.

They must stop this madness. It was beyond her powers and beyond his. “Call on the Crimson Wizard,” she told him. “There is no shame in asking for help.”

Gabriel shook his head. “I am ruled by Tristan, the Silver Wizard.”

“Then ask him for help. We must find a way to eradicate this before it kills more wildlife, and then infiltrates the ground water. Skins will die. This is bigger than us, bigger than anything.”

Clenching his fists, he nodded. Gabriel closed his eyes, raised his arms and murmured a chant.

There was a flash of brilliant white light. A handsome, dark-haired man appeared before them. The tips of his shoulder-length hair were silver. He did not look at them, but gazed out at the swamp.

“About time you asked for my assistance, you stubborn panther.”

“Tristan.”

The wizard turned, and a cold shiver raced down Sienna’s spine. Power, so much power emanated from him, as if she’d put her hand near a live electrical wire.  He was as omnipotent as Gideon, the Crimson Wizard and ruler of the Glythen, the Fae.

“Ah, Sienna, the king’s Shadow Guard.” The wizard’s mouth quirked upward. “Dare I say that you have been dipping into uncharted waters, Gabriel? No, I stand corrected. Waters charted twenty-five years ago.”

“This isn’t about my sex life, dammit!”

“Gabriel,” she warned, growing nervous as the wizard’s eyes glowed ice blue. “Take it easy.”

“I’ll take it easy when he stops screwing around with my personal life and does something about this.” He gestured to the oily rainbow colors swirling on the water, glistening the sun’s dawning rays. “Stop this, Tristan.”

His expression haunted, Gabriel dropped his arms. “Please. I can’t bear watching this land I love turn into wasteland, killing everything.”

The wizard’s gaze sharpened. “You have the power, Gabriel.”

Gabriel gave a bitter laugh. “Right. My warding didn’t prevent this.”

“Your magick is puny, compared to mine,” Tristan agreed. “But you now share a bond that enables you to join forces, and defeat this dark enchantment.”

The wizard glanced at her. “Use it well.”

He waved a hand and vanished.

“Nice advice,” she murmured. “Does he always sound so cryptic and talk in riddles?”

But Gabriel wasn’t listening, only staring at the water. He stretched out a hand and then turned, hope flaring on his face.

“Tristan’s a cagey bastard, but he’s right. Alone I don’t have the power. But together we do, Sienna. You and me.”

Her jaw dropped. “You’re joking. I have nothing but dark power.”

“Dark power you can control, with my help. Remember how we lit up the glen? Our sexual energy pushed aside the darkness.” He glanced at the water. “If we direct enough white magick at this, we can break the spell.”

The stench made her eyes water. Or maybe it was the hope rising inside her that she could prove useful after all. Maybe her life wasn’t over.

“How?”

Gabriel solemnly pressed his fingers to hers. Light beamed where their fingers touched. “It’s us, pixie. I gained the power to heal after we made love years ago. It’s stayed with me since, but since your arrival, when we kissed, it tripled. You supply the power and I’m the conduit. Like a cord plugged into an electrical outlet, we work together to make it happen.”

Sienna looked at the dark, oily mess churning outward. Soon it would cover all the ‘Glades. More fish and birds would die, and soon, the Skins with them. The land Gabriel loved and fought hard to protect would become a toxic dump.

She looked at the hope and trust shining in his face. This big panther, who dedicated his life to saving the environment, counted on her Elven magick.

Taking a deep breath, she squeezed his hand. “Tell me what to do.”

Linking their hands, she funneled all her dark and light powers, channeling them into Gabriel. He kissed her, his mouth warm and firm, and the power flowed back into her. Strong, white light laced with dark.

Sienna crouched down and faced the oily blackness, fighting her natural fear.

She placed her glowing hand upon the muck. Warmth crept down her arm, to her hand and shot through the water.

And then the dark power inside her surged like a tidal wave as the black water rushed forward, threatening to wash over her. Sienna screamed.

Cursing, Gabriel grabbed her and kissed her, his mouth moving over hers. She felt his white light merge with her spirit, threading through the dark magick.

He pulled away and clasped her left hand. “Now!”

She touched the water with her right hand again. A blue-white glow sank into the dark water and began eating through it like a horde of locusts devouring a field. Pain exploded inside her chest, like a fist clenching her heart as the oily blackness struggled for life, to keep the dark enchantment. The power inside her itched and burned to turn evil. But anchored to Gabriel’s hand, and siphoning his strength, she maintained her focus until the blue-white light absorbed all the toxic dark.

Stunned, she watched the light spread through the water, working northward.

Sienna withdrew her hand, exhausted and ready to collapse. Gabriel pulled her upright.

“You did it, pixie!”

As he smoothed back her sweat-dampened hair she smiled at him. “We did it together.”

He kissed her again, and she felt her strength renew. Gabriel drew back, cupping her face. “You amaze me. Everything about you makes me want to be a better male.”

“Better in bed? That’s a hard one to improve,” she teased.

A wicked grin touched his mouth. “Very hard.”

Arms around each other, they watched the sun climb into the sky, glinting on the clear water of the Everglades. It promised to be a fine day, a good day.